Sven-Goran Eriksson and Player Selections

January 12, 2009

Sven-Goran Eriksson:

Since taking over the Mexican national football team, Sven-Goran Eriksson has managed the team to four victories, one loss, and three draws. While the situation could be much better, at least it’s not any worse than it could be. Now that the third round of the 2010 CONCACAF World Cup qualifiers is behind us, let us analyze Sven’s progress with the team over the past few months.

Depth Chart:

Before one can properly criticize or analyze Sven’s selection of players, it’s best to establish a depth chart to review his recent selections:

While many praises can be lauded left and right, the truth of the matter is that the FMF player pool has been lacking in recent years. It seems as though the days of entertaining, fast-paced football are over, and instead, we now have a slower paced game that is less technical, more sloppy, and less creative. With this mind, it’s no surprise that the Mexican league based players have been unable to produce much of what is expected from them.

Goalkeeping:

Ochoa, Sanchez, Michel, and Orozco all stand at about 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in ), Muñoz tops the list at 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in), and Corona bottoms at 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in). Since we’re not comparing these keepers to say, for example, Jorge Campos who stood 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in), we can’t make height into a key criterion. Oswaldo currently holds the most caps from the group, and at 35 years of age, the most experience as well. However, Memo has shown to have impressive reach, dive, and positioning [the latter of which Oswaldo lacks], and both Corona and Michel have shown great judgment and anticipation, while also proving to be impressive during penalty shots.

So even though Oswaldo Sanchez undoubtedly has the most experience in this position, at this point his prime is now in the past and at 35-years of age, he is hardly a top choice for the 2010 World Cup [providing Mexico advance]. This coupled with the fact that he has underperformed in recent matches lead me to believe that his role with the team should be critically reduced.

Ochoa, Corona, and Michel are all viable candidates for the position yet their presence has been severely overshadowed by Oswaldo Sanchez. Whereas Sanchez typically resorts to shouting and yelling at his teammates, Memo’s calm and cool approach appears at times to translate well with the rest of the squad. If Sanchez is to be kept on the squad, he deserves to only be third or fourth on the pecking order.